The most toxic consequence of leaving the EU will be to discourage EU-bred talent from working in the NHS, which is of course already suffering enormously from the recruitment and retention crisis that shows no sign of recovery.

Already, we are seeing trends - while fewer arrive, more depart, and 10,000 EU nationals have left the NHS in a year. Britain’s most vulnerable patients don’t simply depend on EU GPs, nurses and surgeons, but on an army of notionally ‘unskilled’ carers, porters and cleaners who all play a hefty role in keeping people alive and well.

It's about patients, who would be left without doctors, nurses and essential medicines

The economic and political instability ushered in by Brexit is a collective recipe for huge risk and uncertainty for the NHS in general and general practice in particular.Its repercussions, including of further deacceleration of recruitment and retention of the workforce, may be so catastrophic that they destabilise the healthcare system to the point of disintegration. But this is no far-fetched fear - the effects are already being lived. In fact, Brexit has been identified as the 'one thing' slowing down international GP recruitment.

No reasonable Government would even contemplate the act of self-harm that crashing out of the EU with foolish policies on immigration would amount to.

Last week, Boris Johnson stated: ‘I’m not pretending there won’t be bumps on the road… but if everybody puts their minds to it, I have no doubt we can get ready’.

Furthermore, the UK’s exit from the European Medicines Agency means the NHS will have less favourable access to the cheap medication available on the EU market. Insulin and vaccines, for example, could significantly rise in price, which will, of course, add to the costs of funding the service.

Meanwhile, if the economic impact of Brexit hits public finances in the way that’s been predicted, it will become even more difficult to properly fund the NHS.

A no-deal Brexit on 31 October stands to damage staffing, funding, access to new products and technology and standards of public health.

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Readers' comments (4)

In many cases, drugs which cost pounds in Britain are available for just pennies in India, where many of them are made, a study found.
I.e. Tamoxifen - one of the most common treatments for breast cancer - saw its price rise in the UK over the last few years from 10 pence per tablet to £1.21 - a rise of 1,100 per cent. The drug costs just 2 pence per pill in India.

Lots of medications are more affordable in India (and lots of food). Maybe we should just renegotiate the ‘Olde Empire’?